Chapter 30
The nanny made a fuss as she took my coat—leaving Sarah awkwardly standing with her hands outstretched.
“I’ll take care of the young lady. You go do something useful.”
“Serving the lady is my job. If anyone needs to find something else to do, it’s you.”
Naturally, Sarah fired back. She didn’t want to lose her place as the Countess of Linton’s personal maid.
“I know you’re here thanks to the lady’s generosity, but you don’t plan on staying a nanny forever, do you?”
The nanny’s position in the household was delicate. She wasn’t technically employed by the Linton estate, and the head maid viewed her wandering about the manor as a nuisance.
Justin, on the other hand, had signed a formal contract through the head maid. Though he now worked as Sir Matias’s aide, his title on paper was still “gardener.”
“The young lady and I have private matters to discuss. You, of all people, should stay out—”
I cleared my throat. The nanny, slipping back into her usual harsh tone, forced an awkward smile.
“I meant she probably needs a break after tending to you all day. When you’re old, your words come out rougher than you mean. You didn’t take offense, did you, dear?”
The nanny’s role was crucial if I wanted to catch any secret communications between Sarah and Lady Rosette.
“What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”
“Don’t keep things bottled up just because they came from an old lady, alright?”
“Ugh, you’re scary!”
The nanny glanced at me. It had been weeks since I asked her to befriend Sarah and get her to talk. Yet nothing had come of it—aside from the very first note.
She’d been ignoring my request and continuing to clash with Sarah instead.
“Scary, huh? After everything I’ve done for you?”
“When have you ever done anything for me?”
“When? When you snuck out without telling the head maid—I covered for you. And that stepmother of yours, when she showed up without permission, I was the one who sent her packing!”
Lady Rosette had come here?
“What about that? All you did was throw a fit and make the lady look bad!”
Of course there’d been gossip. If the Countess of Rosette had visited and I never even appeared, it would have stirred rumors.
“The young lady doesn’t want to see that woman! How many times do I have to drill it into your head before you get it?”
“Even if she doesn’t like her, they have to be seen together! Lady Cecilia just started receiving invitations. Do you want to ruin everything?”
Watching the two of them go at it completely drained what little resolve I’d built up.
Not that I’d had much to begin with, but I had been trying.
“Enough.”
Their shouting made my ears ring.
“Nanny, I asked you to be nice to Sarah.”
I deliberately criticized the nanny in front of Sarah.
“She’s the only one who treated me kindly when I first came to the Linton estate. No one else cared about the countess, but she did. I thought it would be nice if you two could get along—but maybe that was asking too much.”
Sarah looked both happy and guilty, avoiding my gaze.
She had said befriending Lady Rosette was for my sake—but in truth, her motives were probably far more personal.
“Sarah, thank you for today. Go rest until it’s time for dinner.”
“No, my lady! I hardly did anything. Being by your side is my duty.”
It was always so easy to see other people’s hidden thoughts—like looking through glass.
Sarah was feeling guilty… and relieved. She thought I was naive, easy to manipulate. That if she said the right things, I’d fall for it and do exactly what she wanted.
“You must be tired from sitting up front. I had to ask because Josephine was with us—you understand, right?”
Once I caught onto someone’s true thoughts, it became easy to turn the situation around.
Sarah hesitated, remembering something that upset her.
“Of course I understand. The Countess of Allegro is… scary. I know that too.”
“You’ve done well today. Go to the kitchen and ask for my share of snacks. If anything comes up, I’ll call you.”
Food was a small gesture—but in this world, it went a long way.
No matter how grand the estate, a maid’s daily meals usually consisted of dry bread and watery soup.
With that in mind, Sarah’s allegiance to Lady Rosette made more sense.
Still, I couldn’t let myself be a passive piece in her little tug-of-war.
“Snacks…?”
Just as I expected, Sarah wavered.
She and I hadn’t shared some deep, life-changing experience that bonded us. We weren’t comrades. And the same went for Lady Rosette.
Loyalty without a foundation can sway easily.
Sarah’s plan was probably simple: get whatever she could from Lady Rosette and get whatever she could from me.
And honestly, from her perspective—it was a rational move.
“I’m the one asking you to rest, Sarah. No need to feel bad.”
With her calculations complete, Sarah nodded eagerly.
“Well, if you’re being that generous, I’d be rude to say no, wouldn’t I?”
“Exactly. Just relax.”
She left humming a cheerful tune.
I gestured to Justin, who was standing nearby with the nanny, and told him to follow Sarah and make sure she actually got the snack.
“My lady!”
The nanny, who had been holding back her frustration, finally burst.
“Justin’s going to be a knight soon! How do you think it looks to have him running errands like that?”
I turned and stared quietly at Justin.
“It’s alright, Mother. My lady only asks because she’s comfortable with me.”
“If he says he’s fine, then stop fussing over your grown son, will you?”
Justin looked like he had something to say, but in the end, he held his tongue and quickly followed after Sarah.
A coward of a man.
He had plenty to grumble about with the nanny, yet didn’t have the nerve to say a word to me.
Once we entered the manor, the head maid was already waiting.
“My lady. Lady Margaret of the Baron Artois household has sent someone.”
“Someone?”
A person—not a letter or an invitation. Odd.
“I told them I’d be sure to pass on any message myself, but they insisted they must receive a direct answer from you. They refuse to leave otherwise.”
It seemed Margaret’s patience had finally run out.
“Nanny, go upstairs and unpack my things.”
I had decided—before the day ended, I would root out the false confidence the nanny and Justin had built up.
The nanny grumbled but eventually left, sensing I wasn’t about to dodge the conversation.
“Where’s the messenger?”
“Waiting at the back door, my lady. But it’s hardly the sort of place for you to go.”
“Then bring him inside.”
The head maid hesitated. Maybe this was someone who shouldn’t be treated as a proper guest.
“Then tell him to come to the front door.”
“Yes, my lady.”
In this society, titles and class made everything unnecessarily complicated. I reached under my chin and untied the ribbon on my hat.
As I held it loosely in my hands, a familiar maid approached and took it from me.
She was the one stationed outside my room on the very first day I arrived in Cecilia’s body—the one who had shouted at me. Now, she bowed deeply without a word.
This world continued to feel alien. But more than that, it made me realize how essential it was to build power of my own.
Edgar’s behavior hadn’t changed one bit.
He hadn’t ended things with Elodie, and as soon as the scandal with Justin died down, he was out of the house again.
The only reason the maids were acting differently now was because I was no longer just the troublesome Countess Cecilia—I had hosted a successful dinner party and been invited to Marchioness Federica’s tea gathering.
The faint rustle of the head maid’s apron was followed by the sound of heavy steps on the stone floor.
The front door opened.
“My lady. Lady Margaret of House Artois insisted I deliver this message personally. I apologize for the intrusion.”
Unexpectedly, the man was quite handsome—and polite.
“Lady Margaret requests that you visit the Baron’s estate within the week.”
I tilted my head. Until now, Margaret had only ever suggested casual outings.
“Is there a banquet?”
“No, my lady.”
“A tea gathering?”
“No, my lady.”
The man hesitated, clearly unsure how to answer.
I hadn’t forgotten that Margaret was the illegitimate daughter of Baron Artois.
Ricardo, despite being the acknowledged heir to a duke, still couldn’t shake the label of bastard. Margaret, by comparison, would likely struggle even more to organize events independently.
“She told you to get a direct answer from me?”
“Yes, my lady.”
At the banquet, Margaret hadn’t shown even a hint of insecurity about her birth.
But what if that confidence had only been a performance—something meant to impress me?
Regardless of her demeanor, the room had silently isolated her.
No one had approached her in friendly conversation.
Maybe I was overthinking. But when you don’t trust anything—not even yourself—you start to consider every possibility.
And that’s what I was doing now.
For someone like Margaret, being known as a friend of Countess Linton might carry serious appeal.
At that dinner, hadn’t even Josephine misjudged my nature?
“Refusing is still an answer, don’t you think?”
The man remained silent.
“Lady Margaret truly wishes to see you, my lady.”
Josephine’s words came back to me: Use what you can.
Was Margaret someone I could use?
I found myself brushing my skirt, as if wiping off the memory of our clasped hands that day.
“I was joking. Tell Lady Margaret I’ll come, on time.”
“Thank you, my lady.”
Clearly afraid I’d change my mind, the man quickly turned and hurried away.
“Let Sarah know to arrange my schedule accordingly.”
“Yes, my lady.”
I turned back absently—then froze.
The head maid was watching me with a pleased expression.
“I’m relieved to see you finding your place, my lady.”
Looking at her pale, weary face, I felt a flicker of guilt.
“Bring me the ledgers this evening. I’ll go over them.”
“Yes, my lady!”
I’d planned to fall asleep right after sorting things with the nanny—but letting down someone who had begun to rely on me, even in silence, was harder than I’d expected.
The belief I’d carried all my life—that if you didn’t have any natural worth, you at least had to try—still held strong.
I exhaled a dry, quiet breath.
